Subway construction



G. F. KoTRBArY 2,021,313

SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Aug. 5, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 19, 1935.

NOV, 19, 1935. G, F. KTRBATY 2,021,313

SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION Original Filed Aug..5, 193i) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 19, 1935 rar r tric SUBWAY CONSTRUCTION Guy i?. Kotrbaty, Lanrelton, N. Y., assigner to Fer-O-Con Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Reled for abandoned application Serial No.

473,250, August 5, i930. This application December 14, 1933, Serial No. 702,429

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in subway and other like constructions, and more particularly to a novel assembly of metal supporting and forming members. 5 Hitherto, subway construction has involved a number of arduous steps, including making an open cut with sloping sides, preparing and forming demountable molds which are filled with concrete and other suitable plastic materials. In the setting up and dismounting of these molds, it is necessary to provide ample working space on .the outside of the subway wall in order to permit the workmen to carry on efliciently. This extra space involves the removal of considerable quan,- tities of material, and its return to position after the walls proper have set and the molds have been removed. In addition to these extra spaces, there is the necessity of constantly replenishing the mold forms due to breakage, in the case of wood,

Also the mold members have to be thoroughly cleaned after use in order that they may be reassembled for further work. The use of molds generally of the type noted above requires very substantial expenditures in equipment and labor, which expenditures represent unproductive overhead.

It is an object of this invention to provide an Y improved method of subway construction. '50 It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved method of subway construction in which the form members are themselves adapted to serve as permanent structural elements of the iinished structure.

Yet another object of this invention is the provision of improved wall and ceiling units, which are adapted to be mutually associated into permanent supporting structures, and which may be filled with a suitable structural plastic, such as concrete.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an improved method of subway construction in which the walls and roofs may be progressively assembled as the excavation proceeds, and in which the lateral excavation is reduced to an absolute minimum.

These and other desirable objects and advantages of the present invention will be described in the accompanying specification and illustrated in the drawings, certain preferred embodiments being shown by way of illustration only, for, since the underlying principles may be incorporated in other methods of construction and embodied in other speciiic devices7 it is not intended to be limited to the one here shown except as such and warpage, in the case of metal constructions.

limitations are clearly imposed by the appended claims.

in the drawings, like numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views, of which Fig. l is a vertical section taken through a 5 completed subway structure;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the wall units of Fig. 1 with cap members of Fig. 4 shown secured thereto;

Fig. 3 is an end section of reinforced roof unit 1U of Fig. 1 showing mode of securing abutte-d members;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary end View in perspective. of a wall grid cap; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective of the side 15 of a grid.

In my prior application, Serial No. 295,705 led July 27, 1928, for Improved construction unit and system, U. S. Patent 1,877,898, of Sept. 20, 1932, there has been disclosed an improved build- 20 ing construction involving an assembly of grid members assembled in a novel manner to provide improved buil-ding construction generally.

The present application (substitute for abandoned application iiled Aug. 5, 1930, Serial No. 41.73.250) relates to further improvements on the said constructions, and more particularly to constructions adapted for use in the building of subways, culverts, railroad underpasses, bridges, and other such constructions. 30

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 a typical vertical section through a twotrack subway, in which the center retaining or supporting members are designated generally by 3f the numeral lil, the side walls by the numeral 2t, and the roof members by the numeral tt. In addition, the earth footing is designated by the numeral fle, the roadbed by the numeral 5t, the lateral earth walls by the numeral to, the roof slabs by the numeral l0, and the street section and subjacent fill above the subway generally by the numeral 8U.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the wall constructions comprise a plurality 4, of grid members 2l having inside faces 22 and o outside faces 23 joined together by end sections Eil. The members 22 may be of perforated or imperforate sheet metal, or water-proof composition board, and are preferably provided with horizon tal stifiening ribs 25. These members are clipped to the end sections 24 by means of clip portions 24a as are the face members 23. The members 23 may be made of any suitable material, such as foraminous sheet metal provided with apertures 5 23a, as well as a plurality of horizontal stiffening ribs 25, and formed with an arch to provide increased strength. The members 24 are severally provided with loop portions or tongues 24h adapted to engage apertures 24e in abutting end sections of adjacent units 2|, the several sections being held in interlocking relation by any suitable keying means, such as pipes or rods 26. These members may be of solid metal such as ordinary rods of suitable dimensions, or they may be formed of pipe or tubing which can be subsequently filled with plastic material, such as concrete or cement.

The sections 24 oi the gri-ds are made of any sheet metal of any suitable thickness rolled into shape and form with abutting sections of adjacent members supporting I-beams. As intimated any suitable thickness of metal may be used for heavy construction such as those involved in subway, bridge or other like constructions. l2 to 14 gauge metal may be used.

If desired, the members 23 may be formed of foraminous material or otherwise suitably perforated in order to permit the neat cement of the plastic mix to seep through, after which a workman with a float can spread it evenly over the outer surface of member 23. The inter-grid space 2l' may be lled with concrete or other material as the work progresses, so that the formation of the walls is substantially simultaneous with the setting up of the forms. The end members 24 of the grid sections may be suitably perforated, as indicated at 23, whereby the plastic material is adapted to ow through from one unit 22 into another like unit, filling up the end spaces 29 and forming a substantially complete monolith having a plurality of independent structural metallic members as cores and casings. Due to the number of'wall sections used, the wall load is evenly distributed rather than supported at substantial distances, so that the combination iron-concrete construction provided by this novel method assures a substantially uniform distribution of the wall load, the abutting ends 24 of the units forming, as noted above, I-beams having metallic and monolithic interconnections. The center supports may be made of ordinary wall grids of the type disclosed and claimed in my prior application Serial No. 295,705 and its cognate applications.

The subway roof may be formed by superposing subway roof grids 3G on the center and side wall supports l@ and 2G, respectively. These members may comprise a bottom rib lath portion 3| and side sections 32 provided with suitable perforations 28 and alternating loop portions 28h separated by cut-out spaces 24e. The members 3l may be made of any suitable construction, such as foraminous sheet metal provided with transverse ribbed portions 25, or they may be made of imperforate sheet metal of any suitable thickness. The upper portions of members 32 are joined by a plurality Ioi? tie rods 33 gripped to the side sections, as are the bottom members 3|, so as to provide locking engagement of the several parts. The members 33 may be made of any suitable material such as iron or steel rods, and are dished as shown to permit the central sections 34 to depend into the space formed by the side walls. In use, these roof grids are tted together and keyed by means of the tie rods or pipes 26 in the manner shown in Fig. 2, after which the concrete or other plastic is poured into the top and a suitable distance thereover to form a roof slab 10. grid members 3i) are provided with loop portions 28h alternately bowed interiorly and exteriorly of the end sections 2L. to form a broken pipe section adapted to receive locking and keying means 26 The roof therein and hold abutted units together. By having this roof grid member with an open top, the advantage of the monolithic structure is obtained together with the co-advantage of the use of metal tie rods, although it is to be noted that the 5 labor incident to laying down the tie rods is done away with as these are incorporated in the roof grid members and are not required to be laid down singly t-o form a supportingmat.

The roof grids are supported on the wall mem- 10 bers 2) in the manner now to be described. The roof grid supporting caps comprise a iiat side section 9|, having an upper portion Ella and a lower portion 9 Il), each of which is provided with a laterally extending flange portion 92, 93, the 15 member 92 extending inwardly and the member 93 outwardly with respect to the face of the grid.

A lateral supporting cap member 94 is secured to or formed integral with the member 9i at about a point equal to about half its height, and this 20 member 94 is provided with an integral depending apron portion 95 provided with depending lugs or clips 96. The members 95 are so configured as to conform to the outside faces 23 of the grid units or members, the members 9b being forced into 25.

locking engagement with the perforations of the outside faces 23 of the grid units or members. When these novel grid caps are in position the wall grid members are completely covered, yet due to the perforated construction of the gri-d caps 30 any plastic material applied thereto can flow freely down and into the inter-grid space, thus permitting a complete monolithic bonding between the wall grids and the roof grids, previously described. 35

Referring again to Fig. 1, it will be noted that to complete this improved subway construction it is merely necessary to supply the requisite amount of fill 83 above the roof slabs lil, and then form the metal surface of the road 8l in any suitable 40 manner. As above indicate-d the earth iid, abutting the side Walls, is the -original earth which has been left in place due to the improvements afforded by the present system. It will be readily apparent that by the use of the improved method 45 of construction and apparatus disclosed above, it is possible to form subway constructions with a marked saving in labor and material costs due to the fact that no forms are required other than the structural members themselves, and also due 5l) to the fact that the only labor cost involved is that of setting up the combined form-structural grid members. This type of construction is also particularly suited for use in forming railway underpasses, bridges, and other such construc- 55 tions.

It will n-ow be appreciated that there has been provided a novel method of constructing subways and improved structural units adapted to be used in such work. 60

What is claimed iszl. A wall gri-d for subways and like constructions, including end members having a central longitudinal rib member with cut-out portions forming alternating slots and outwardly eXtend- 65 ing loop portions, the loop portions of abutting end members of abutted wall grids being adapted to engage slots formed in like abutted members and to be held in locking engagement by common locking means passing through all of said 70 loop members, face members secured to the said end members in rigid locking engagement, at least one of said face members presenting a substantially plane surface.

2. A wall grid for subways and like construc- 75A tions, including end members having a central longitudinal rib member with cut-out portions forming alternating slots and outwardly extending loop portions, the loop portions of abutting end members of abutted wall grids being adapted to enga-ge slots formed in like abutted members and to be held in locking engagement by common locking means passing through all of said oop members, face members secured to the said end members in rigid locking engagement, at least one of said face members presenting a substantially concave surface.

3. A wall grid for subways and like constructions, including end members having a central longitudinal rib member with cut-out portions forming alternating slots and outwardly extending loop portions, the loop portions of abutting Iend members of abutted wall grids being adapted to engage slots formed in like abutted members and to be held in locking engagement by common locking means passing through all of said loop members, face members secured tol the said end members in rigid locking engagement, one of said face members presenting a substantially plane surface and the other presenting a substantially concave surface.

li. A wall construction for subways and like constructions, comprising a plurality of wall grid. units as claimed in claim 3, said members having mutual engagement between the several loops and slots, and locking bars in engagement with the several loops.

5. In a subway construction comprising vertical wall grids having spaced sides and end members joining the sides, the inner sides o1' the grid being concave and the outer sides thereof being vertical roof grids superposed on and across the tops of the wall grids, the improvements including a wall grid cap for the wall grids having its inner surface of a curvilinear aspect, including a channel section having its outer vertical face provided with an outstanding flange, a roof gri-d receiving channel secured to said channel section, said channel section being prolonged to provide a .downwardly extending portion having a curvilinear edge adapted to engage a concave wall grid face.

6. A roof grid for subway construction and the like, comprisinga bottom sheet member having transverse stiiening ribs incorporated therein, end members secured to said bottom member, said end members being provided with mutually interlocking segments, and transverse stiffening rods secured to the top of said end members and depending into the body of the roof grid.

'7. A roof .grid for subway construction and the like, comprising a bottom sheet member having transverse stiening ribs incorporated therein, end members secured to said bottom member, said end members being provided with mutually interlocking segments, and transverse stiifening rods secured to the tops of said end members and depending for a major portion of their length into the body of the roof grid.

8. A subway roof construction comprising a plurality of open top box-like members, having a bottom and associated sides, said sides being secured to said bottom and spaced at the top by spaced rod-like stirfening members; said side members being provided with loops and apertures adapted for mutual engagement whereby to form opposed and aligned grids of abutting roof members adapted to be mutually interlocked by keying members, and common keying and locking means passing through the said aligned loops.

9. A subway roof construction comprising a plurality of open top box-like members, having a bottom and associated sides, said sides being secured to said bottom and spaced at the top by spaced rod-like stiffening members; said side members being provided with loops and apertures adapted for mutual engagement, and locking means passing through the said aligned loops, the whole being lled with hardenable structural plastic material such as concrete.

lo. An improved subway construction compris- Ying side walls and associated roof together with central partition walls, said side walls comprising a combination concrete and iron construction, including a plurality of box-like members locked together end to end, the inner face of said members being bowed inwardlyto afford maximum stress resistance per unit of area, and l the said interlocked ends forming load supporting I-beams; the partition walls comprising similar box-like members having plane faces and the roof members comprising a box construction having an open top and a substantially continuous bottom disposed between interlocked side members, the open top of the said box being provided with transverse stiffening rods, the said roof members bridging the side and partition walls, and a monolithic lling of a hardenable plastic material disposed in the said side and partition walls and the roof members.

GUY F. KOTRBATY. 

